What About Gluten?
I love this notice from Waitrose.
What About Gluten?
The notice says.
Bread sliced here may contain nuts, peanuts, sesame and other allergens.
There is no mention of the biggest allergen in bread; gluten.
Payday Loans To Be Controlled
I feel that pay-day and short-term loan companies like Wonga are not the best of ideas. They’re not good for customers as their interest rates are just totally out of line and I think that their business model will come a cropper, as I outlined here.
The government has stated that the new Financial Conduct Authority will have the power to impose a limit on interest rates, as outlined in this article.
It sounds fine in practice, but what will happen to existing loans? And who will lend to those, who use the payday loan system?
It will also effectively kill off all these companies, so they’ll be more unemployed.
And how many criminals and thugs will move into the loan-sharking business?
So all in all, with the proposed alcohol price legislation, it’s been a very good day for criminals.
The Onion Gets Taken As The Truth
I like stories like this, where a humorous piece from a satirical web site like The Onion, gets taken as the truth, by the media in some country where freedom and press don’t go anywhere together. This time it’s China that gets fooled, but Iran has been duped in the past.
The trouble is that these countries wouldn’t make fun of a serious leader so wouldn’t know humour if it hit them in the face.
I wonder if they have April Fools’ Day in China and Iran?
Do Actors Sometimes Regret Their Early Roles?
Dame Diana Rigg is a well-respected actress and has appeared in many high-class productions. But there are performances in her past, that she might like to downplay. C and I saw her in the infamous 1970 production of Anelard and Heloise with Keith Michell, which was noted for its full frontal nudity. Everybody leaned forward at the appropriate moment. Wikipedia describes her performance in the play as follows.
A return to the stage and a nude scene with Keith Michell during Abelard and Heloise in 1970 led to a notorious description of her as ‘built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses’, by the acerbic critic John Simon.
She did of course star as Emma Peel in The Avengers in the 1960s. Some clips on YouTube are interesting to say the least. Would ITV show something like this today?
Should We Build Floating Houses?
The BBC web site muses about floating houses in this article. After all our floods, it could be one of the answers to building in areas likely to flood.
But myself, I’d prefer to live well away from water. I can’t swim and after what I’ve been through, to drown would be complete failure.
An Amazing Tale
The remarkable story of the wartime exploits of Ken Gatward was flagged up in The Times today. This is his Wikipedia entry.
His raid on Paris was the classic idea to wind up the Nazis.
I am reminded of the Mosquitos that after bombing Germany used to go through the streets of Dutch cities at tree-top heights, whilst the Dutch threw their hats in the air and cheered. Whilst visiting Ballast Needham in Amstelveen, I got talking about it with one of their engineers. He said his father had told him about the amazing sight and noise as they echoed through the houses.
So,etimes these days, we seem to have lost sight of the maxim told me by an old Colonel – In case of war, burn all rule books.
Ice Cream Wars In Blackburn
I thought ice cream wars were a thing of the past. But no! They are alive and well in Blackburn!
I Need A Left-Handed Connector
I have a small IKEA shelf, that is the ideal place to put my small wireless printer.
The Mains Cable On My Printer
But as you can see the mains cable pushes the printer forwards. What is needed is a right-angled mains connector like this.
A Right-Angled Connector
This one from Maplin, though is right-handed. They don’t do a left-handed one. So where can I get one? If you look at the item on Maplin, I’m not the only one who wants one, given the comments.
A Good Day For Criminals?
On the whole, I think a minimum price for alcohol is a good idea. I said so here a few days ago.
But the downside is that criminals will be smiling at all the profits to be had by selling cheap alcohol to all and sundry, after it was announced that a minimum price will come in. It’s here on the BBC. I doubt the measure will curb binge-drinking and the associated crime.
And then we have the Leveson report, which is due to be released in a couple of days. According to this BBC story, many are worried about it on a freedom f speech basis. They have a point, but if we have more restrictions on reporting, which overall is a good thing, the value of a good story will increase. So I think, we could see more harrassment of celebrities as the pot of gold will be even bigger. Especially, as many countries won’t care what is illegal in the UK and will fully publish on the Internet.
Just remember that if we had a privacy law like the French, would the details of the MPs expenses have emerged? So the so-called great and good, who break the law, may well be protected by Leveson’s recommendations.
But as the phone-hacking by the News of the World has shown, wrong-doing gets properly investigated.
Boris Gives It Straight To The French
Boris Johnson in India has taken the French government to task over their statements on ArcelorMittal. It’s here on Reuters. This is an extract,
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson on Tuesday described France’s Socialist government as left-wing revolutionaries that were driving investors away in a dispute with steelmaker ArcelorMittal.
The Conservative mayor mocked the French government as ‘sans-culottes,’ a radical left-wing class during the French Revolution of 1789, while adding that British capital would welcome business fleeing from France.
The French are going to have to realise that the world has changed and the rest of the world doesn’t owe them a living. Especially, as their policies are driving the best and most creative brains out of France.
The Anonymous Widower 